Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Speech

Thank you. Thank you, Ric.
Thank you for your introduction. Sister Nintha Lucilla, thank you for hosting us in this event today and congratulations! On the beautiful production, the excerpts of whom we have seen just now. Father Reuter, thank you for having been around all these years; Bishop Cortez and all the bishops and religious leaders who are here today, thank you also for this opportunity to share our thoughts together on how media can spread the word of the lord. Cecille, thank you for the contribution of the I.T.I. to these efforts in culture. And Mr. Jones, congratulations and welcome to the Philippines! Together with our other delegates to the ASEAN religious convention. And to all of you, Paulinians and visitors who are here, good afternoon to all of you. It's a very important event that we have today. Values formation in media comes hand in hand with evangelization, and here we see today, that evangelization through media is ably supported by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the Asia-Pacific Bureau of the UNESCO International Theater Institute, and various leading universities and colleges in the country such as St. Paul University here in Quezon City. We're glad that through the Asian Bishops Conference on Social Communications, which ended today, our regional neighborhood is harnessing theater and broadcast media to spread the word of Ggod. Commendably, the Asia-Pacific Bureau of the UNESCO I.T.I. is helping us out by organizing theater courses for teachers, students across the ASEAN region. And thank you sister for your contribution to this effort. The 31st UNESCO International Theater Institute World Congress was successfully held here last May, as mentioned by Sister President. But I would also like to specifically commend St. Paul University Quezon City for producing the drama anthology "Sa Ngalan Ng Ama," parts of which we saw this afternoon but which will be shown over T.V. Maria of the Dream Satellite Network. Congratulations Sister! Congratulations to all involved! and let me say, we wholeheartedly support it. In the gospel of St. Mark, chapter 16 verse 15, Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to spread the good news of the gospel to all people in all places -- the good news. At kahit na sa mga bagay ng mundo, dapat binibigyan nating diin ang mga bagay na nakaka-ahon sa loob, sa kalooban. We must tune in on our economic gains rather than on political noise even in secular matters. The signals are clear that we are on the right track, with Filipinos here and around the world exemplifying great heroism and wagering on productivity and excellence. And the government, I'd like to assure you, is making sure that the fruits to be reaped from macroeconomic gains would be well within the reach of every Filipino household. The people are anticipating economic take off and keeping divisiveness and destructive politics at bay. This is the time to surge forward and not fall back as we drive the momentum of the Philippines forward. Nasa gitna kasi ng pananampalataya at asal ng kristyanismo ang pagmamalasakit sa kapwa, lalo na yung mga kapuspalad. Kasama sa ating asal at pananampalataya yung pagkakaisa at hindi yung paninira. We go by the exhortation of Pope John Paul II when he said to a group of Filipino Bishops at the Vatican a few years ago that "The pledge of the church in the Philippines to be engaged in renewed integral evangelization demonstrates the people's desire to capture that Christian faith and values permeate every aspect of society." Kasama na dito yung lipunan ng ating bansa. The production and launching of "Sa Ngalan ng Ama," the drama series is one important step towards this end. We hope that more schools will follow the lead of St. Paul to create heightened awareness of the faith. And I understand that the Archdiocese of Manila is now constructing a state of the art television studio, bishop, in its compound of Caritas Manila, complete with editing facilities. Congratulations to the diocese! Congratulations to Cardinal Rosales! Congratulations Bishop Cortez! For this highly worthy project. And once again, to all our bishops from the Philippines and from all over Asia, congratulations for your noble efforts! And to all the other men and women behind this highly inspiring affair, and affairs that we are launching, the drama series and looking forward to the improved facilities of T.V. Maria, to everyone involved, you are truly an inspiration. And that is what the Lord wanted you to do, all his disciples to do. That is what the Lord wants all of us to do in propagating our Christian faith. Maraming salamat.

Congratulations! Sa inyong lahat.